Perfectly Lonely
by FireEngineRed
Summary: After watching her best friends die, Hermione does what she must to survive with the help of the last person she'd expect.  5 years later we find her living her life in Muggle Manhattan perfectly lonely.  Loosely based on Breakfast at Tiffanys.


**Author's Note: I have been throwing around this idea ever since I watched Breakfast at Tiffanys the other night. It is one of my favorite films. This story is inspired by the movie, but loosely based on it. I'll have memorable quotes and scenes throughout, but as you read through it you'll realise that the premise is quite different. The first chapter opens up like the first couple scenes. I hope you all enjoy and share your feedback. Love you all. -Chelsea.**

**PERFECTLY LONELY**

**Chapter 1**

_"Nothing to do_  
><em>Nowhere to be<em>  
><em>A simple little kind of free<em>  
><em>Nothing to do<em>  
><em>No one to be<em>  
><em>Is it really hard to see<em>

_Why I'm perfectly lonely_  
><em>I'm perfectly lonely<em>  
><em>I'm perfectly lonely<em>  
><em>I'm perfectly lonely <em>  
><em>'Cause I don't belong to anyone<em>  
><em>Nobody belongs to me"<em>

-John Mayer-

* * *

><p>My life is a simple one. I've done everything in my power to make it that way. After Hogwarts and the loss of the war I realized that no matter what I believe or how hard I try to make things better I will never succeed. After losing my best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, to the most evil man I've known to exist, I have come to terms with the fact that nothing will change. Any type of movement I could create would fail just like I've seen it fail time and time again. I had to learn how to live with this weight on my shoulders. I'm not saying that I am proud of myself for ignoring what has been delivered to my doorstep every day for the past five years. I'm ashamed and appalled and I know that I am disappointing the seventeen year old me, but what am I supposed to do? I am only one person, one person whom the dark side would love to get a hold of. At least I have some decency to my safe being by not turning myself in. No, instead I have gone into hiding, and in the States! What can I say, I was scared. Do you blame me, though?<p>

My name is Hermione Granger and I am _not_ a witch (no matter how much I would love to be one again).

When I watched my best friends die in front of me at the hands of the death eaters I had a frightening revelry that I was going to be next. We weren't called the golden trio for nothing. We came as a package deal. I knew that and even more importantly, they knew that. It wasn't a job well done until we were all _taken care of_. So was I supposed to stick around and do the noble thing by revenging my beloved friends and dying for what I had faught for all seven years of my life being a witch? Probably so. It was what people had expected from me, no doubt. No one presumed that I would freak out, hide tail, and run. I was the brightest witch of the age. But being intelligent didn't make up for the fact that I was a muggleborn. Instead it made me even more of a threat to the dark lord. The thought kept me up at night. It was different before the war, when we all had our heads up in the clouds and believed in a _happily ever after_ for everyone. It was different when I had my two best friends to make me laugh and keep my mind busy with new assignments and missions at hand. It was different when there was hope. When my friends died at my watch that hope dissipated into nothingness.

Don't judge me. You might not have done the same thing I chose to do, but you would have thought about it and most likely would still be thinking about it to this day...if you weren't already dead that is.

I remember my name being called out, beams of green light everywhere, and threats of death and darkness looming at every turn as I hurried away from the gruesome scene. I was horrified and weak with the taste of vomit and fear in my mouth. Tears were streaming down my dirt cladded face and I wasn't sure where I was going. All I knew was that I had to get out of there. Fuck everyone else. It pained me to think that and brought out a new set of sobs rumbling in my throat. Honestly, the recollection of that moment still does. I hate myself for being so selfish, for not being the Hermione Granger everyone knew me to be, but inside that tough little cookie I used to be I was just a sad scared pathetic girl.

They should have never taken that pink ribbon off my eyes. Who was I kidding, anyways?

Draco Malfoy. I ran into him going up the staircase to the Gryffindor Tower. He had looked lost and drew his wand in a frantic haste. My arms flew up in surrendor. I was crying not worrying about the sobs that escaped, too broken to care about the image I had worked so hard to create over the years. Every ounce of me had given up and who was Draco Malfoy to me? He was a pansy who couldn't think for himself. I wasn't watching him and didn't see what had transpired in the long twenty or so seconds we stood on that landing, but in the next second instead of holding myself the ferret's arms were actually around me...and not in a threatening manner! He was hugging me, consoling me, or at least trying to. I remember knowing that the sane thing I should have been doing was pushing him away and running for my dear life, but I surprised myself and did the exact opposite. I collapsed and held on to him for dear life. No words were exchanged. The situation was already strange. He even had the balls to drop his head onto mine and pull me closer. If I had been thinking rationally I'd have questioned his intentions, but the sound of hushed voices and footsteps were approaching. I pulled away intending to keep running without even looking back at him, but instead he grabbed my hand and lead me farther up the stairs. I spoke his name, but he hushed me and pulled me into an empty closet once we reached the fifth floor. He closed the door with a soft thud and turned towards me pressing his finger to my lips. I couldn't make out his face in the darkness and wasn't sure if I wanted to. The footsteps continued up the stairs leaving us in the clear. Malfoy mumbled something and soon the closet was filled with a dim light. He looked ill and as in bad shape as I was. I remember feeling so insecure as his eyes roamed around my face. Seconds passed as though they were minutes- hours even!

"I have to get out of here," I whispered pleadingly.

"They'll find you either way," he replied cupping my face with calloused hands.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked while my whole body trembled at the comforting touch.

"I'll tell you some other time," was his answer. He then dipped his head and pressed his lips softly to my forehead. "The barrier is down," he whispered, "be careful, Hermione. I hope to see you again some day." Then he was gone, and in the next second so was I, imagining the farthest place I could think of.

* * *

><p>"Have a nice day," I said stepping out of the yellow taxi. I closed the door and stepped up on the sidewalk breathing in the New York City air. Despite the smog I lived for this city's air. It was what kept me calm on even my worst of days.<p>

The Tiffany's store on Fifth Avenue was what I had imagined five years ago when I was desperately running for my life. I had remembered going there when I was eleven years old. My parents had taken me to the Big Apple for summer vacation. It was here where Hogwarts's owl had first found me, barring my invitation to the magical world. It was here where my life had changed forever. It was here where I went from being some nobody to a witch of the well respected magical community. My parents had been too shocked to make any sense of it at the time, calling the letter some hoax or prank. I couldn't make any sense of it either, but at the same time I was begging it to be real. It was a dream come true, or so I had thought. For seven years I thought that. My parents were still in Australia under the illusion they were who they weren't. I missed them to death, but I didn't want them to return into the line of fire, and I didn't have the heart to show them the person I had become.

I didn't neccesarily enjoy rehashing these painful memories, but when I was feeling homseick or distraught about something or another I found myself hailing a cab, Tiffanys as my destination.

I walked up to the large display window and tilted my head taking in the new collection. Beautiful diamond necklaces and rings. I didn't wear diamonds, not because I couldn't afford it, but because I simply believed that it was tacky- unless you were forty. You become dignified at forty, or so I thought. Or maybe it was because I couldn't bring myself to buy my own diamonds. They should be bought as a gift, and let's be honest- nobody in my life these days were weighing the option of dishing out their hard earned money on me. I was alone. Always alone.

Sighing at this daily revelation, I moved on to the next window and marveled at the grandiose chandeliers and imagined what one of them would look like in my tiny one bedroom apartment. I pursed my lips and took a sip of my coffee. I couldn't tell you why teasing myself with such novelties pleased me, but it did do just that.

* * *

><p>I returned to my apartment located on the East Side of Manhattan at I69 East and 71st St. It wasn't grand or luxorious, but something that met my needs and budget. I didn't even bother looking for my keys because I knew I had misplaced them at some point last week. Instead, I rang the buzzer for one of my upstairs neighbor. It took several attempts before the portly little asian man complied and let me in. I hurried up the stairs hoping to get into the door before he came out and gave me crap about my lost key.<p>

"I must protest Miss Granger! You are always waking me up!" He shouted down to me. Once at my door I leaned over the banister and looked up at him.

"Maybe you should try waking earlier, darling!" I piped in cheerfully hoping to raise his mood just a hair enough for him to not cause trouble. I pulled my large Chanel sunglasses down my nose slightly, "The early bird _does _get the worm, you know?"

"Thats besides the point," he said shaking his finger threatenly, "I never get any sleep!"

"Well you aren't letting anyone else in the building get their sleep either, and two wrongs don't make a right, darling. You know that," I responded nonchalantly as I opened my door.

"Miss GRANGER!"

I shut the door behind me and pressed my back against it.

"MISS GRANGER!"

I locked the door and headed for my unmade bed. 8 AM was a perfect time for a little cat nap.

* * *

><p>I woke up hours later to my buzzer going off and my cat burrowing his head into mine. I wasn't expecting company so I pulled the covers over my head slightly hoping to ignore the pestering sound. It had to have been around noon and way too early to even consider waking up. Much to my dislike, though, the buzzing didn't cease. Instead it increased and I had no choice but to oblige the person waiting downstairs. I fumbled with my eyemask and surprisingly made it to the front door without tripping over anything. I pressed the little red button and then opened the door just a crack so I could see who dared wake me up from my beauty rest. I was shocked to say the least.<p>

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't get the downstairs door open," came the one voice I didn't think I was ever going to hear again in my life time. He was walking slowly up the stairs and I made a mental note that I should probably close the door so he couldn't see me...ya know, so I wasn't killed at recognition. But he kept talking and I was slightly curious to see how he reacted, "I guess they sent me the upstairs key. I couldn't get the downstairs door open."

He kept talking but I wasn't paying attention, I was too astounded. What was I doing? I was glued to the spot. Had he tracked me here? Was he meant to bring me back to his leader. Would I be able to say goodbye to Cat before I left?

"I said, I guess they sent me the...uh, " he was reaching the landing now and was clearly putting two and two together. He seriously looked confused to where it could be possible that he wasn't expecting this untimely reunion either, "...upstairs key."

I opened the door just a bit more and tugged at my ear plugs. No wonder I hadn't heard a single word he was saying. His eyes widened and traveled down and back up my body. I saw him gulp as his lip twitched. Oh shit, what was happening.

"I couldn't get the downstairs door to open," he explained relaizing I hadn't heard him before. I nodded and pulled my robe closer to my body. "Sorry to wake you."

"Thats quite alright," I replied trying to keep my voice from breaking, "It could happen to anyone."

"Quite frequently does," he said with a smirk and I almost had to take hold of the door frame because I was pretty sure I couldn't handle any more of this exchange.

"Good Night," I said with finality ready to end this..

"Hermione... I hate to uh- to bother you," he said looking too sincere for his own good, "But if I could ask one more favor?" I didn't reply in so many words, but lifted my eyebrows. How could I speak? This was first time I had ever heard him call me by my first name. I wasn't sure which was more shocking, the fact that I hadn't seen him in five years or the fact that he called me Hermione. "Could I use the phone?"

I looked him over wondering why the hell he would want to do such a thing. The phone? Since when did he communicate through muggle devices? I was about to shut the door in his face and decline the favor, but my conscience tugged away at me. He had done a favor a million times more substantial back in the day, one where I could never repay him for. I sighed in defeat and moved to the side.

"Sure...why not?" I replied stepping to the side. My heart thudded in anxiety as I watched the one and only, Draco Malfoy, step into my tiny one bedroom apartment, wondering what may come of this.

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><p><strong>R&amp;R<br>Thank you!**


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